video transcript

(ROUGH CUT ONLY - NO REPORTER NARRATION) Baggage handlers, pilots and air stewards, marched from their offices in La Munoza industrial estate to Madrid's Barajas airport. Iberia, part of International Airlines Group last week pledged to press ahead with plans to slash 3,800 jobs at the struggling Spanish airline, or 19 percent of the total, despite union opposition. Iberia, Europe's biggest carrier to Latin America, is battling competition from low-cost airlines and high-speed trains as well as an economic crisis in Spain. Its declining revenue and high costs drove the IAG group to a 631 million euro operating loss for 2012. The three February and March strikes are the biggest in the airline's history and are estimated to be costing Iberia 3 million euros a day, while also causing disruption to other airlines as ground staff are part of the stoppages.